The Western Mining Alliance is the organization of independent miners across the West. Since our inception in the small, historic mining town of Laporte where we had three people, we have now grown into a movement of thousands of miners. Based in Reno, Nevada, The Western Mining Alliance is defending the rights of over 55,000 claim holders across the West. Our objective is simple, to restore our Constitutional rights to mine and to present science based evidence on the truth about mining.

Western Mining Alliance Website

Western Mining Alliance Facebook Page

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AMRA-American Mining Rights Association is a 501 (c)(3) Non-profit Association and was created by miners and public land users, for miners and public land users to preserve and maintain their rights as they pertain to access to their public lands and their rights to obtain the minerals on those lands. We are not a gold club but rather an advocacy group.

AMRA Website

AMRA FaceBook Page

October News Link

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Get the Latest News from these websites. Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA) - News on legal issues for the gold prospecting community.  

Gold Prospectors Website

GPAA Facebook Page

November News Link

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Prospecting and Mining Journal (IMCJ)- News on legal issues in the gold prospecting community.



Prospecting and Mining Journal Website

IMCJ Facebook Page

September News Link

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Public Lands for the People - A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit
                                    Organization

Public Lands for the People Website

PLP Facebook Page

PLP was constructed for the purpose of representing all outdoor user groups and individuals that are interested in keeping public and private lands open to prospecting, mining, and outdoor recreation on a non-discriminatory basis! PLP assists groups to join forces to maintain the laws and rights of all citizens on public and private lands (Federal, State and City). PLP will assist with representation at public hearings of government agencies that are proposing limitations and restrictions on the lands that belong to the people. PLP DOES LITIGATE! We will file injunctions, when necessary, to prevent governmental agencies from discussing public issues behind closed doors and calling them “personnel meetings”. We will come to the aid of, and give individual attention to, persons or groups who are being harassed, intimidated or mislead by people in authority (in or out of uniform) who are attempting to enforce their own ideas or opinions of laws, rules or regulations, rather than the actual laws, rules or regulations, and what it actually means.

September 01, 2020 NEW PLP Press Release
We have put several documents in the hands of the correct people in Washington, DC, and are now just waiting to schedule conference calls or online meetings to address several issues, such as federal preemption, dredge permitting, access, and more.

In the meantime, I want to highlight some recent court cases won with the assistance of Public Lands for the People (PLP) taken from the PLP newsletter.

PLP Member Wins “No Addition” Argument in CA State Court

For the very first time in CA State court, a small miner has won the “no addition” argument—this time against the CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife. Gold miner Michael Osterbrink, along with PLP’s expert testimony delivered by PLP’s legal researcher Clark Pearson, fought back a charge by the Sierra County District Attorney Mr. Osterbrink’s mining “had polluted state waters with materials that are deleterious to fish in violation of section 5650 of the CA Fish & Game code.”

Mr. Osterbrink was found not guilty of violating section 5650 of the CA Fish & Game code, which prohibits pollution of state waters with materials that are deleterious to fish and wildlife (count 2). PLP cannot understate the importance of this legal decision in our present battles with the political powers of the regulatory swamp. This is a really big deal!

So-called environmentalists in CA believe that miners are polluters—not true! There are no foreign substances added, a fact PLP has been touting for many years, and the court agreed. The court stated, “…I really think 5650, the intent of the legislature there is to deal with situations where a defendant has deposited something new, a foreign substance. Here, there doesn’t seem to be any dispute that this defendant did not add anything new. So I am going to find Mr. Osterbrink not guilty on count 2.”

You may recall back in 2015, PLP member John Godfrey also won the “no addition” argument in count 5 against the Forest Service. (See: www.publiclandsforthepeople.org/accomplishments/)
In the Godfrey case, the Forest Service even had a so-called expert lead engineer from the CA Water Board testify that what Godfrey had done amounted to pollution to no avail to the government. Godfrey won in federal court and now Osterbrink has won in CA state court. PLP had confidence that it was a solid argument that could be won, even in a California state court.

Osterbrink’s decision will go a long way in helping get suction dredging to legally return to California and other states. PLP once again successfully stood by its arguments that are successful when applied properly, even when others have waivered and compromised.


August 18, 2020 New FOR 30 YEARS: PLP exists to "Represent and assist outdoor user groups and individuals interested in keeping public and private lands open to prospecting, mining and outdoor recreation through education, scientific data and legal means." Press Release

OKTOBERFEST is back! October 9-11, 2020
We will be celebrating in the historic Stringer Mining District near Randsburg CA., on an easy access private mining claim. Bring your metal detector and drywasher and keep all the GOLD you find! We want this to be fun and educational for experienced prospectors and newbies too. Experts will be on hand to share tips and tricks to improve your gold recovery skills. Special events include BBQ dinner Saturday evening with several talks and legal updates after dinner. The kids will really enjoy the metal detecting area prepared just for them. You can bet they will like what they find!
If you are new and need help learning how to set up and run your equipment; we’ve got you covered. Need gear? The mining community is always willing to share. We will have some loaner equipment available, and there will be experienced folks willing to drywash and pan with you. There will be a common area for panning near the loaner drywasher area.

Cost is only $60 per person and $85 per family ($85 includes first 4 of family). Your entry fee renews your membership or covers your first year PLP Membership dues. BBQ dinner is included plus a book of 2021 Raffle tickets! Registration is very limited to the first 40 people registered.
Sign up here: www.publiclandsforthepeople.org/oktoberfest. Read More

June 11, 2020 PLP Prospector Cross Training
What does a gold prospector do to take a break from finding gold? Why, go to Hawaii and mine the tourists of course! Well it’s not quite like it sounds. Who among us hasn’t lost a ring, coins or some piece of jewelry at the beach or swimming at their favorite swimming hole? I can remember back in Junior High school during the summer we would vacation near a lake for two weeks. I would spend the days fishing in the morning and swimming in the afternoon until that fateful day I was wearing my mom’s high school ring (you hear this one coming, right?). Yep, you guessed it, while jumping off the diving platform that ring slipped off my finger when I hit the water, never to see the light of day again! The water was only about 6 or 7 feet deep, so I dove down and felt around in the mud: nothing. Again and again I dove, and nothing. You didn’t want to be me that night having to explain what happen to the ring! I still wonder why I wanted to wear that thing in the first place. Underwater metal detectors weren’t around back then, but now I’m thinking of taking mine back to hunt for the lost ring. I remember fairly well where that old platform floated in the swimming area…but I digress.

There is abundant wealth lost around water and you don’t need a mining claim or special permission to hunt many public places. If you have a waterproof detector or one that can handle highly mineralized conditions, your odds of finding treasure increase significantly. Let me explain. A typical ocean beach can be compared to the Mother Lode, only better. Why? As long as people keep visiting there, the gold gets replenished! Rings, bracelets, coins get lost in

There are several similarities between beach hunting for jewelry and hunting for gold in the rivers. For instance, at the beach, she stuff that is lost in the upper sand areas make their way down into the surf during large storm events just like gold is washed downstream in the same storms. You can find an occasional nugget above a river in gold country, but you’re going to make your best finds when you locate the pay streak where nature has concentrated the gold. Read More

March 17, 2020 PLP Press Release
PLP is following up on issues of road closures, NEPA regulatory delays, duplicative regulatory issues that are prohibitive from the State level, EPA 402 Petition for suction dredgers, and numerous other public lands use problems. We are meeting with senior level advisors to the White House, Interior Department, EPA and the Forest Service, though we have postponed our March trip to Washington D.C. because of the corona virus. Many of our contacts won’t be able to meet with us so to be good stewards of our resources, we are going to reschedule our meetings once things have cleared up. Please keep up to date by reading PLP updates every month in the Mining Journal: www.icmj.com

We recently submitted comments on Trump’s new NEPA rulemaking to ease burdens upon the small miners consistent with our education package on Critical Minerals: National Security Amendments to the NDAA for lawmakers on the Hill—helping all miners. Being that Trump’s staffers and agency heads have identified most of the issues we have outlined and they issued their report, the next step is regulatory implementation by publishing in the Federal Register, notice and comment period, etc., to enact regulatory relief in the quickest way the government can. The regulatory plan must come first before resuming our push with Congress on our Critical Minerals: National Security Amendments to the NDAA. We are helping to move the process forward as quickly as possible.

PLP’s President has been busy not only with PLP, but actually ‘out there’ staking claims of uranium, rare earth elements and critical minerals! There is a lot more to be found and claimed in this great land, so don’t just concentrate on gold mining. Uranium costs more to mine than it’s worth at the moment; but there are other minerals the U.S. needs to have in the local supply chain. Read the Epoch Times’ front page story here and watch the TV interview here.

PLP’s proposed small miner amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) now called “Critical Minerals: National Security Amendments to the NDAA” is still in subcommittee. We have good reason to believe it will come out of committee next year after Senator Lisa Murkowski terms out this fall as chair of the Energy & Resources Committee and is replaced by a favored Senator that is more pro-mining and proactive! Stay tuned…

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! We know folks are busy and don't always remember to keep up things like renewing their supporting membership in PLP. That is why we are bringing back this very popular renewal option...We are sending our clubs who may wish to renew again and get TEN BOOKS of 2020 Grand Raffle tickets in advance, to encourage you to renew AND join in the raffle! If you renew your club membership now, you get to keep the book of tickets as a bonus gift from PLP (don't forget to mail them in along with your membership dues). And, of course, you may purchase as many extra books of tickets as you wish! They are 12 tickets for $10. You can't win if you don't enter! We'll drop your tickets in the barrel for the July 2020 Grand Raffle Drawing. If you wish to purchase additional tickets directly, you can call our toll-free number (844)-PLP-1990 which is (844) 757-1990 or Mail a Check (to the address below) and specify the number of ticket books you wish to have mailed to you. Supporting the PLP Grand Raffle helps us continue to fight for your rights.
PLP
PO Box 1660
Inyokern, CA 93527

Help us help you and have some fun while doing it! Support the Grand Raffle by buying tickets or donating prizes.

Thank you; we can’t do what we do without your participation in donating, volunteering, or becoming a member.
Your PLP Board of Directors

December 23, 2019 PLP Press Release
FOR 30 YEARS: PLP exists to "Represent and assist outdoor user groups and individuals interested in keeping public and private lands open to prospecting, mining and outdoor recreation through education, scientific data and legal means."

PLP Member Wins “No Addition Argument” in CA State Court

For the very first time in California State court a small miner has won the “no addition argument”—this time against the CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife.

As some of you may know, PLP member Godfrey won the issue against the Forest Service and CA Water Board in 2015. This win occurred on appeal at the federal level in US District Court.

In this latest case, gold miner Michael Osterbrink was charged by the Sierra County (California) district attorney. They claimed he had “polluted State waters with materials that are deleterious to fish” in violation of section 5650 of the CA Fish & Game code.

Michael Osterbrink is a prospector who was operating a gas-powered dry washer and vac-pack in a remote section of Sierra County. This high elevation area was a dry placer gulch for most of the summer and had piles of rocks left over from the work from miners during the gold rush and Depression era. Osterbrink had found some “chunky” pieces of gold with his metal detector, and then decided to work a pay layer within the gulch with his dry washer and vac-pack. This dry placer and gulch, at the time he worked it, was an intermittent stream course for which the CA Fish & Wildlife has regulatory authority.

The case was heard by Judge Yvette Durant in November 2019. PLP’s legal researcher, Clark Pearson, provided expert testimony on behalf of Osterbrink. Pearson testified that: …"no addition occurred in this case to trigger a violation of section 5650 because no foreign substances were added to the waterway” and he went on to say: “…that a violation of section 1602 is troubling because "substantially" used in this criminal regulation should be found void for vagueness by this court because it was not defined in the regulations or statute.” Pearson cited the Godfrey case as precedent to aid Judge Durant in her deliberations over the alleged violation of section 5650. Read More

November 01, 2019 PLP’s OCTOBER SURPRISE News Release!
PLP takes on CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife! Yes, that’s right.PLP is providing expert help on behalf of a miner who was cited for not having a stream alteration permit for…for…wait for it…DRYWASHING!

July 22, 2019 PLP Press Release The 2019 Grand Raffle is in the history books! PLP is ramping up for its 30th year of working hard to preserve our rights.

July 03, 2019 PLP Grand Raffle Looming Ahead Press Relewase

June 18, 2019 PLP Press Release Newsletter The much-anticipated “Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals” has now been released by an interagency report.

04-30-19  Read the Complete News Release PLP has proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) called “Critical Minerals: National Security Amendments to the NDAA”.

04-15-19 PLP 2019 Grand Raffle is underway! Get your tickets early!

December 19, 2018 PLP Newsletter
August 15, 2018 PLP News Release
July 30, 2018 PLP 2018 Grand Raffle Winners Press Release
June 15, 2018 PLP News Release
May 09, 2018 PLP Press Release
March 01, 2018 PLP News Release
January 14, 2018 PLP Press Release
December 16, 2017 PLP Press Release
December 01, 2017 PLP Press Release
October 20,17 PLP Press Rease
September 08, 2017 PLP News Release
July 12, 2017 PLP Press Release
June 26, 2017 PLP Grand Raffle Press Release
June 09, 2017 PLP News Release
April 09, 2017 PLP Press Release
March 28, 2017 PLP Press Release
February 07, 2017 PLP News Release
December 19, 2016 Latest News Press Release
November 16, 2016 PLP Press Release
November 08, 2016  PLP Press Release
August 24, 2016 PLP Press Release
August 17, 2016 PLP Press Release
July 24, 2016 PLP Press Release
July 20, 2016 Press Release
June 07, 2016 PLP Press Release
May 27, 2016 PLP News Release
March 18, 2016 PLP News Release
March 06, 2016 PLP Press Release
February 29, 2016 PLP Press Release Read More
January 21, 2016 PLP Press Release
January 19, 2016 Press Release
December 17, 2015 PLP Press Release
December 03, 2015 PLP Press Release Annual PLP Christmas Party December 17th
November 26, 2015 PLP Press Release
November 10, 2015 PLP Press Release
October 12, 2015 Feinstein Whitewater Public Meeting Details PLP News Release
September 03, 2105 PLP/MMAC Oktoberfest Fundraise Press Release
August 13, 2015 PLP/MMAC Oktoberfest Fundraiser
August 10, 2015 PLP Request Joshua Tree National Park: Eagle Mountain Follow Up
August 02, 2015 PLP Press Release
July 23, 2015 PLP Press Release
July 06, 2015 PLP Press Release
June 27, 2015 PLP Press Release
June 24, 2015 PLP Press Release
June 12, 2015 PLP Press Release
June 10, 2015 PLP Press Release
May 28, 2015 PLP Latest News Complete Press Release
May 08, 2015 PLP Miners Win Federal Preemption Press Release
May 08, 2015 PLP - Message from the Minerals and Mining Advisory Council (MMAC) Press Release
March 17, 2015 Cleveland National Forest has decided to close more roads PLP Press Release
March 03, 2015 MINERS DECLARE INDEPENDENCE-MMAC Press Release
February 23, 2015 We rolling out a new website PLP News Release & Request
January 21, 2015 A win for PLP is a win for the small scale mining community and all public land users. Read the Complete Press Release
January 14, 2015 PLP Press Release
December 29, 2014  Tribute to Jerry Hobbs Read the Complete Press Release
October 23, 2014 Three things in this press release PLP wants to inform you about. Press Release
October 07, 2014  Press Release The Oregon State House,
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/allow-suction-dredge?source=s.icn.em.mt&r_by=11403933
January 01, 2014 Public Lands for the People marching towards VICTORY! YouTube Video